Welcome to AS IT IS! … your daily magazine show from VOA Learning English.

Today we visit the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Efforts are underway to return the area to its former glory.

We also hear about a new dance craze named for the area called the “Harlem Shake”….

And another YouTube video sensation that also shook the world.

New Yorkers often say Harlem is “The Capital of Black America.” Harlem has acted like a magnet for African Americans. Until recently, it has also been one of the poorest areas in New York. It was difficult for local businesses to succeed. As we hear from Mario Ritter, that picture is starting to change.

Nikoa Evans-Hendricks has spent 14 years organizing small business owners and marketing the Harlem name.

“I’ve watched it evolve from essentially the forgotten land above 96th street, where no one really saw any value, to the goldmine and the gold coast that it has become of Manhattan.”

From 2000 to 2010, median household earnings in Harlem rose 30 percent. That enabled Seven Brown to open a skin care shop, the kind of business once considered too upper class for the neighborhood.

“It’s been a great experience to be able to live and work in the same community that you’ve lived in for a long time. The bad part of it is watching a lot of the mom and pop organizations, mostly black-owned businesses, close on a daily basis.”